Oscar De La Hoya realizes that a rematch between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia won’t happen anytime soon.
If Davis and Garcia eventually fight again, however, Garcia’s promoter predicted that their rematch would do much bigger business on pay-per-view than their successful first fight. “The Golden Boy,” who prognosticated that their April 22 bout would produce 2 million buys in the United States, told a group of videographers Saturday night in Arlington, Texas, that a Davis-Garcia rematch would generate 4 million buys.
Only two pay-per-view events in boxing history – Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao (4.6 million) and Mayweather-Conor McGregor (4.3 million) – have eclipsed 4 million buys domestically. The Showtime Pay-Per-View card headlined by Davis’ seventh-round knockout of Garcia generated approximately 1.2 million buys, more than any Showtime Pay-Per-View production since Mayweather-McGregor in August 2017.
Davis-Garcia also accounted for $22.8 million in ticket sales, the fifth-highest total in Nevada boxing history.
“A rematch won’t take place anytime soon,” De La Hoya said during a card headlined by William Zepeda’s second-round knockout of Jaime Arboleda. “I believe that both fighters will each take their own path, but eventually meet down the road. That’s the beauty of boxing, you know? I mean, Gervonta Davis could easily go up to 140. I believe he’s fought at 140 already, so it would be nice maybe to see him up there at 140 down the line. Let him enjoy his victory. Let him get a few more wins, fight more world champions. And believe me, when they do it again, if they decide to do it again, that fight can do 4 million homes easy.”
De La Hoya plans to meet in person with Garcia in the coming weeks to discuss the 24-year-old contender’s return to the ring, which De La Hoya hopes will happen sometime in August.
Garcia stated during his post-fight press conference that he’ll return to the 140-pound limit for his next fight. The Victorville, California native dropped down from 140 to a contracted catch weight of 136 pounds for his high-profile showdown with Davis, who dropped Garcia twice and knocked him out with a body shot during the seventh round.
Though Garcia suffered his first professional defeat (23-1, 19 KOs), his promoter expects him to be a bigger star than ever after sharing the ring with Davis (29-0, 27 KOs).
“Look, it’s boxing,” De La Hoya said. “It is what it is, but Ryan Garcia is still an attraction. He’s still a star. So, there’s nothing lost there. I think Gervonta’s gonna go up to the stars and Ryan Garcia as well. So, now we have two stars, which is great for boxing.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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